Traditional assembly methods for mechanically operative home goods, such as waste bins with mechanically operating lids, have typically involved a significant degree of manual intervention. This includes parts picking and transportation within a factory workspace, mating actuation mechanisms to substrates, and packaging finished products.
During the 1970's and 1980's, when U.S. automobile manufacturers were not producing vehicles of consistently high quality, it was said that a consumer should avoid buying a car that was made on a Monday or Friday. Cars made on Mondays were said to be assembled by hungover workers, and those made on Fridays were said to be assembled by workers already concentrating on the coming weekend. Whether there was any legitimacy to that warning, it does reflect the reality that assembly by humans is inherently variable, particularly assembly line work. While repeated motions, such as inserting tab A into slot B, may lead to efficiency of motion, it can also lead to boredom, inattention, and repetitive motion injuries, all of which can vary the quality of the work performed by the worker.
On the other hand, a properly programmed factory automation robot suffers none of the same drawbacks and instead performs the programmed tasks the same way, every time. Sensors can be employed to verify the proper functioning of the robot, and work can be ceased should a malfunction be detected, thus minimizing the risk that substandard work will be present in a finished product.
However, even with advanced automated assembly tools and techniques, not every product can be assembled without human intervention. For example, a waste bin with a pedal operated lid in the prior art has required a human operator to properly align and install the components of the lid actuation mechanism, including the Z-wire, lifting rod, mating elements, etc.
What is needed in the context of the manufacturing of home goods including waste bins is optimization for automated assembly.